My third and final week with Dr. Labow was filled with rare cases. We of course did multiple breast reductions, but I was also given once in a lifetime experiences observing the two cases. One was a concealed penis surgery on a young boy, which was fascinating. A concealed penis is covered by inflamed foreskin which causes the penis to invert. To help cure him, a urologist removed the skin, and Dr. Labow gave the boy a small tummy tuck in order to use stomach skin to put a skin graft where the foreskin was removed by the urologist. The skin graft was extremely delicate, so the boy was required to be on bed rest for about a week. The other interesting case was a young girl with a syndrome of her feet and hands. She was born with them all attached, and Dr. Labow was determined to separate them while preserving movement and growth. Truly amazing.
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My second week with Dr. Labow was absolutely incredible. I was able to watch multiple breast reductions, a rhinoplasty, and met a young boy with an incredibly rare disease. The breast reductions and rhinoplasty were mesmerizing, and especially interesting because I was able to get close and learn and observe everything that was going on. The highlight of my week though, was meeting the young boy. The boy had a rare disease which left him with no pain receptors. Walking into the consult room, the 10 year old boy had one finger, 3 toes, and an amputated foot. Feeling no pain left it easy for him to bite his fingers, which eventually led to having none. He would continuously bang his feet which resulted in cuts. The cuts on his left food became extremely infected, and he was forced to have it amputated. Speaking to one of the PA's, they told me that this case would be one of the most interesting that I would see in my entire career. It was fascinating.
My first week with Dr. Labow was incredible. On day one I walked in, and he greeted me with open arms. I followed him in and out of exam rooms, meeting current and future patients with different situations. I met two young women who were in clinic for a consult for a breast reduction, as well as a young woman with keloids on the backs of her ears that she wanted removed. The day was great. The next day was the first day that I would spend in the operating room. I watched two breast reductions. They were incredible. This week I also had the opportunity to watch a facial re-animation surgery, which is the re-activation of a paralyzed face. This young girl was crushed by a tv console, which resulted in partial paralyzation and mood disorders. I observed multiple surgeons harvest a large muscle from her inner thigh, and implant it into the right side of her face. I have never seen anything so outstanding. My final week at Joslin was bittersweet. It was sad to know that I was soon leaving, but it was also one of the best. I was able to meet twins; two young girls both with type 1 diabetes. In getting to know them, I learned that not only they were type 1 diabetics, but so were their mom and dad. This was surprising to me because I have never known someone who had that type of situation. They were both very open about it. I asked them about how it felt for all of them to have the same disease, and they told me that it was kind of relieving. They are able to bond and relate to each other in an indescribable way, and it has made their transition into a new life, that much easier.This week at Joslin I spent most of my time helping with administrative duties. Every year, the Joslin staff organize and run the "Teddy Bear Clinic". During the clinic, diabetic children and their families come, pick out a donated teddy bear, and walk around to the different stations and imitate their own diabetes care. Each station is different. There is an insulin station, where the children can choose a medical device to put on their bear. One of my jobs this week was to think of a shape that we could cut the "pump" into, out of paper. We couldn't make the fake pumps look like a certain type or brand of pump because all diabetic patients use different supplies. I had to be creative, and ended up with a cute design of a pump. This kind of work opened my eyes to all of the nooks and crannies of being a child life specialist, and how much attention needs to be paid to little things that go a long way.
During my third week at Joslin, I got to meet a young autistic girl with type 1 diabetes. I had never met someone with autism who also had diabetes, and I wasn't sure what to expect. This young girl came into the play room and was very hostile. She could not decide what she wanted to do or who she wanted to do it with. She began screaming over absolutely everything. Micaela was then informed that she needed labs (blood drawn), and all I could imagine was for this to be an absolute disaster. As the girl was brought into the lab, Micaela followed her in with books, stickers and games. As the girl was screaming and squirming away from the needles, Micaela offered her everything, but she wasn't interested. Her dad told her that if she stayed still and was brave that he would bring her to Wendy's after she was done, but even that didn't work. As a last resort, Micaela asked the girl if she could sing a song. She immediately started singling Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It was truly inspiring. By the end of the song, her labs were done and she was able to go to Wendy's.
This week at Joslin I spent more time helping with administrative duties. I aided Micaela in the preparation and organization needed to have projects and activities that relate to diabetes for the children to do in the play room. One of the most simple yet eye opening tasks I was asked to do was to assemble a large toy hospital. My job was not only to assemble it, but to decide which pieces were too small or unnecessary to have out. I was then told to hot glue almost all of the pieces down to the toy. It was surprising to me how much thinking and planning goes into a simple toy, but there are precautions to everything while working with kids.
Growing up with type 1 diabetes allowed much time to be spent at Joslin Diabetes Center. As a young child, I spent most of my time in the "play room" while my parent's went into my appointment. I would play games with Micaela, the child life specialist, while she would ask me questions to dig deeper into my emotions towards my juvenile diabetes. She was an important support in the process of keeping calm while getting blood drawn, and helped me learn more about my medical supplies. Starting this internship as a child life specialist with Micaela, I imagined it to be similar to the kind of support and help that I grew up depending on, and it most definitely is. This week I got to witness the ways in which Micaela prepared and spoke with kids about their diabetes care, as well as create relationships with new patients.
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